Box beam construction for floors



K. L. BER GVALL ETAL 46 .BOX BEAM CONSTRUCTION FOR FLOORS Dec. 18, 1951 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1 i NVE NTOES Filed April 27, 1945 M v 3 Y Q IT. r a n n Ems-I Erik DaHbers Patented Dec. 18, 1951 BOX BEAM CONSTRUCTION FOR FLOORS Knut Lennart Bergvall and Ernst Erik Dahlberg,

Stockholm, Sweden Application April 27, 1945, Serial No. 590,530 In Sweden April 6, 1944 1 Claim. (01. 2072)] This invention relates to a novel structural building element for prefabricated buildings, and to a novel building formed of such elements.

For the purpose of transferring the manufacturing of a building from the building-site to the factory it is necessary to divide up the large wall-spaces, the framings of joists etc. into smaller parts, elements, which can be mechanically manufactured in a factory and afterwards easily put together at the site. For that reason it is impossible, in a rationally working production of portable wooden buildings, to write the dimensions of the building or its rooms quite arbitrarily, but they are to be varied in determined steps corresponding to the so-called module measure. In order to satisfy practical demands for various room dimensions etc. the module-measure has to be kept as low as to centimeters. Wall and joist elements are usually efiected in normal widths several times larger than the chosen module measure. In order to satisfy all demands for various room dimensions within the frame of the chosen module, consequently there has to be produced, except elements of normal width, a large amount o'fextra elements of smaller dimensions.

The present invention refers to elements by means of which the above difliculties are avoided,

and it is principally characterised in that all or almost all the building-elements are of the same width, being equal to the chosen module measure on one hand, and of the same range of size as the thickness of the occurring intermediate walls of the building, on the other hand, for instance equal to two times this measure, and that the assembly of elements, after having been joined together, form a complete wall including a complete framing of joists. By means of this arrangement it is possible to erect a building essentially by means of one single type of elements. Accordingly, the frame element included in the building are of the same width as the wall elements, through which the advantage is obtained that both wall and framing elements can to a large extent be produced out of standardized details.

According to the present invention the production of the wall elements is furthermore quite independent of windowand door-apertures, the body being built up of the elements in such a way, that necessary windowand door-apertures are formed, wherein windows and doors are inserted later on, at the building-site, which to a large extent decreases the number of element types being necessary to meet various demands with reference to window or door apertures.

- When a frame of building is to be erected by means of the elements according to the present invention, the joist elements are placed with their edges straight on the top'edge of the outeror inner-walls, the same thing'holding good not only for the walls supporting the elements, but also for the walls running parallel to the longitudinal direction of the joist elements, the edges of the joist elements placed on outer walls being protected by a special wall element, the thickness of which is equal to one half of the .wall thickness and the height of which is equal to the thickness of the joist elements.

An advantageous construction of the element according to the present invention includes a box-beam having two opposite side walls connected by two end walls, so constructed and arranged that the edges of the side walls project beyond the edges of the end walls, the projecting portions or flanges being intended to abut closely similar adjoining elements in the building.

In a building with a wooden frame those walls of the said box-beam which are parallel with the plane of the ready-made wall-spaces or framings of joists, are made of several wooden courses or plies, the fibres of which run in difierent directions. In order to obtain tight joints between the elements the projecting portions or longitudinal edges of the side walls are provided with tongues and grooves, amoisture resistant packing being provided at the bottom of the groove.

The projecting ends of the side walls of the box-beam structure form a channel with the respective adjoining end wall for the reception of a resilient insulating pad, which projects slightly beyond the edges of the side walls.

In the accompanying drawing a constructional form'of an element according to the invention is exemplified. Fig. 1 shows a diagram of the arrangement as practised on a framing of footings. Fig. 2 represents a section through a boxbeam according to this invention, and Fig. 3 shows a section through a portion of part of a joint between two adjoining box-beams, to show how they are joined together to form a wall or floor. 'Fig. 4 represents in elevation a diagram of a part of a wall,erected by joining together aplurality of box-beams and Fig. 5 is a vertical section through a part of a two-storied building showing the use of box-beams according to this invention to make fioors walls, partitions and ceilings. a

In Fig. 1- is illustrated in the form of a diagram how -a'frame of building-;is erected in a rational manner, which is attained by the fact that the plate formed by the joist elements projects at every edge out upon the underlying wall element to an extent of half a module measure. At the end side of the framing joists the wall-thickness is filled out by means of an always equally shaped special filler element I. Thus, the further advantage is obtained that all the joist elements are of lengths which represent a whole multiple of the module measure. Thus, in the figure, a, b, c and d are whole multiples of the chosen module measure.

The figure is a schematic elevation through a building erected by means of interconnected boxbeam elements, the left hand portion thereof showing a longitudinal elevation of a combined floor and ceiling while the right hand portion thereof shows a transverse diagrammatic section of such a combined fioor and ceiling. The figure is intended only to show the main principleof term: a wall.

The box beam. shown in Fig. 2v has spaced, parallel sides. .5, each including. three wooden courses L12 and 3: glued together, the outer ones 2 of whiclr have their: fibres parallel to the longitudinal directionot the plates and the intermediate course of which. has. its fibres perpendicu lar to said direction. The intermediate course eiiectively reduces. the shrinking and expanding i i the two outer. courseswhich permits thevariations or. the width per element to be decreased to a maximum of. approximately 0.3 millimeter. The sides are kept. their relative position by ends 4' arranged along the elements and consistingof rather volume constant plates, 4- glued together of, for instance, wood fibre, plywood or coursed wood. The. said plates. are seated in longitudhial grooves: formed on the inner" face of said sides, spaced. from the edges. thereof. projecting portions iia. or flanges: are thus formed on the said sides. These projecting sides, together with the adjoining wall 4-,,form av channel for the i'eception..ofv an insulating pad 8. In the course of the manufacturing: operation the intermediate courses 2 of the elements can be dis.- placed in relation to the. two.- outside plates so that a tongues and a groove! are formed, which are fitted together withcorresponding adjoining elements when the erection takes place. to the shape of the elements there, is obtained a closed chamber 9,.which is. filled with a suitable insulating material. The cushions. a'suitably are made slightly narrower than the. space between the flanges so that an air chamber or an air channel Hi is-obtained betweenthe cushions and. the flanges when the elements are assembled (see Fig. 3)". Through this channeielectric wires etc. can suitably be drawn. In connection with the outer walls the channel furthermore brings the advantage that, being put into communication with the outer air, it serves as draining channel for the heat insulating material-oi the elements, because the moisture within the: wall wi-l-l'move towards the cold channel and vaporize,

The numeral 32 represents abox-beam The r Ihe condition, however, is that the cross bracings are of a material apt to permit vapour diifusion. Furthermore in outer-wall elements the channel serves as a draining channel for water having eventually been able to penetrate the match-joint, and prevents this water from soaking in the filling through the capillary force. H and Ho indicate resilient packings.

In the form of a diagram Fig. 4 illustrates a wall formed of box-beam elements according to this invention, and how, by means of dowels or teeth 12, one box-beam is connected with adjoining, similar box-beams so as to absorb the wind forces, said dowels or teeth being obtained,

certain points, so that the tooth thus obtained enters a-corresponding cavity in the groove 1.

Loose dowels [2a may also be used.

Fig. 5 illustrates a section through a part of a two-storied building. with a wooden frame erected by means of theb'ox-beams according to theinvention. The erection is performed in the following manner On the foundation-wall a carefully levelled groundv beam [4 is placed. Then the box beams 15 according to Fig. 2 are laid for the fioor and are; fixed to the ground beam M, for. instance. by means of nails through the bottom flanges, tightening between the elements being obtained through the tongues 6, I, and the tightening cushions 8. After all of the elements of the. floor having been placed and joined together the horizontal filler wall elemerits it are fixed to. the ends of the box-beam elements and to the ground beam I4. Upon the surface thus obtained a plate I 9 is placed and fixed, said plate being perforated with an aperture for. each element. After that the wall ele-; merits 25]- are raised in the manner shown in Figure 4",. beginning at a corner where the first element is temporarily stayed right by a plumb bob. After that the box-beams are erected and joined together, one by one, the elements being connected by tongue and groove, and then the bottom ends of, the elements are fixed in their exactpositions by means of a dowel 21 being. driven through, ahole in the beam corresponding to a hole provided inthe side 5a. ,After a number of box-beams have thus been thus erected to, form a wall, an upper plate 22', perforated along its length for. the reception of dowels 23: is placed inthe same manner as the; beam I9. In the. same manner as atthe bottom ends of the box-beams, the upper ends. of the beamsforming the wallare now fixed'in theirpositions-by means of dowels 2-3 at the upper ends. Thus each boxbeam is secured at its: upper and lower ends; The dowels or teeth l2 give to the wall the ne,ce s sary stiffness. to resist side f01G8S.S110h-aS=-Wind inthe wall surface. Upon the walls" thus-raised. and secured the next framing element is then piac'edand the erecting operation is: repeated as: described above. 24 indicates battens upon which roof boarding: plates. 25 are. placed and: secured'by' nails.

The invention", of course, is' not conflnedzto any fixed measure of the elements, but they? can bevari'ed within suitable limits. Likewise can any suitable insulating.- or filling-material be used according to: the purpose ofiheat or sounds insulation; The casing of the cushions 8' can be? made of any moisture permeable material.

Having now describedour invention, what we claim a's'new and desireto secure by." Letters Patent-1S2 Y i Iii-a building; a; rooifi having Walls afld' i' wooden ficcr construction comprising a plurality of interengaged parallel, elongated box-beam elements of tubular configuration in cross section arranged in side by side relationship, each element having a width substantially equal to the thickness of the floor and a length at least equal to one horizontal dimension of the room bounded by said Walls, and each element comprising spaced parallel flanges and spaced, parallel webs arranged between said flanges and connected thereto, said flanges forming upper and lower members in the construction, the upper member forming the flooring in the room above the floor construction and the lower member forming the ceiling in the room below the construction, the flanges of each box-beam element having their edges tongued and grooved and interengaged with adjacent similar members in the construction to form said floor and ceiling, said tongued and grooved portions being provided with corresponding dowels and sockets, respectively, engaging adjacent like members to stabilize the construction.

KNUT LENNART BERGVALL. ERNST ERIK DAHLBERG.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Number Name Date Jones Oct. 13, 1903 Schietkiewicz May 30, 1905 Burrowes Nov. 21, 1911 Grasso Feb. 10, 1914 Fairbank Sept. 21, 1915 Rook, Jr. Jan. 14, 1919 Brandt June 27, 1922 Quillet Feb. 6, 1923 Stone Oct. 1, 1929 Janzen July 19, 1932 Tiemann Feb. 27, 1934 Fisher Jan. 16, 1940 OLeary Apr. 30, 1940 Muse May 28, 1940 Fulbright Sept. 23, 1941 Strong Feb. 17, 1942 Jacobson July 20, 1943 Paul Feb. 18, 194

FOREIGN PATENTS Country Date Austria Feb. 26, 1906 

